Homeschooling Deals with Adobe Student Discount

Are your children interested in technology? Within them may be the seeds of a possible future occupation.

My son took advantage of this Adobe student discount and has become an expert in the editing of wedding movies, motion graphics, logos, and design, among other things. You really never know what's going to happen when your kids experiment with things! This application gave him the courage to experiment with other programs, and he is currently creating music with Ableton Live.

Adobe's most popular design and collaboration tools are available at up to 80% off the full retail price for students, faculty, and staff! Create amazing reports and portfolios, collaborate on assignments, and more with Adobe's award-winning tools for design, web, video, and mobile. 

Are you taking advantage of the discounts available for homeschoolers?

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Free Music Software for the Techie Homeschool

Free Music Software 

By Andy Harris (Guest Post)

This month we look over a number of wonderful free tools for creating and enjoying music. Quite a bit of excellent free software is available.

Audio Mixing With Audacity

The most straightforward class of audio tools involves recording and manipulating sounds. Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) is a marvelous tool for this job. Use it with a microphone to record music or speech, import audio in wav, mp3, or ogg formats, and manipulate the sound waves directly. Once you have recorded or imported a sound, you can tweak it in hundreds of ways: add digital effects play it backwards, cut out parts you don’t need, and much more.

Audacity is a multi-track editor, which means you can record several different audio samples and place them in layers for interaction. For example, my father was once responsible for creating the sound effects for a community performance of Henry V. He and I spent a wonderful afternoon gathering battle sounds for the Agincourt scene, building a marvelous multi-layer sound effect with horses and swords. (They always cast Dad as a king who dies in the first scene so he can run the sound effects for the rest of the play.)

I also frequently use Audacity in my daughter’s dance ministry, to shorten songs for performance purposes or to pre-fade a song at the spot she needs. Audacity is perfect for mixing sounds, editing audio files, and converting files to other formats. I use it for virtually all the sound effects in my game development.

Tracking With SunVox

If you really want to create digital music in a powerful way, you might want to look into SunVox (www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox). It is a fascinating example of what musicians call a “tracker.” Essentially, it allows you to create audio samples by specifying a specific wave or importing a sound file. Each sample can be used as the foundation of an instrument that can be used to play any note on the scale. You can then put together a measure’s worth of notes to make patterns, and you can combine patterns to make complete songs.

The process can be confusing at first, but if you look at examples and view some of the many excellent videos on YouTube, you’ll find yourself making incredible music soon. This tool allows you to create any electronic sound you wish, as well as import any other sounds, add drum tracks, and make complex and incredible music. There can be a steep learning curve, but once you understand the interface, you’ll find it to be absolutely incredible. Versions of SunVox are available for nearly every platform. The Computer versions (Windows, Linux, and Mac) are entirely free, but the mobile versions (IOS and Android) cost about $5.00 each. Use a free version first to find out if you like it. If you decide to purchase a mobile version, you’ll find that the flexible interface works very well as a mobile music studio, especially on a tablet with a bit more screen real estate.

Midi Editing With Aria Maestosa

The MIDI audio format is under-appreciated by technical folks. While MIDI files generally sound pretty bad on computers, that’s because it isn’t really a file format at all. MIDI is really a language for describing music. MIDI sounds pretty bad on most computers because most computers have very limited sound cards. When played back on more sophisticated instruments, MIDI can sound really wonderful.

MIDI does not record music. Instead, it is a form of musical notation. MIDI tools are really interesting because they allow you to look at the actual musical notation of a piece at a very detailed level. For example, I loaded up a MIDI recording of the Second Movement of Beethoven’s second symphony into a MIDI editor. I was able to see the entire score as I listened, and I could even look at the score for each individual instrument. (I was a bassoon player, so I absolutely love the woodwind trio toward the middle of this piece.)

You can also modify music, changing instruments around (What would Beethoven’s 7th have sounded like with bagpipes playing the viola part?) by modifying volumes, muting and isolating various instruments. I truly wish I could have had access to this kind of music analysis tool when I was a serious classical musician. You can find a MIDI file of nearly any classical piece you can imagine with a quick Google search. Try www.musedata.org as a starting place for some high-quality, open-source classical music. Of course, you can also compose music with a high-end MIDI editor, whether you use a mouse, the computer keyboard, or (preferably) plug in a high-end musical instrument into the computer.

I’m a big fan of Aria Maestosa (ariamaestosa.sourceforge.net/index.html). It is available free for all main operating systems. It has the ability to view and edit MIDI files in a number of ways, including the raw computer notation, as well as sheet music, piano roll, and guitar tab views. It can be a very interesting way to study music, especially if you’re comfortable reading musical notation.

Music Animation Machine

While on the classical bent, this is not exactly software (www.youtube.com/user/smalin), but one of the most impressive YouTube channels I have ever seen. If you can look past all the pop trash on YouTube, every once in a while you can find something really grand.

Stephen Malinowski is a musician and computer programmer (it’s remarkable how often those two skills coincide). He has written a number of programs that allow him to visualize classical music. On YouTube, he has produced a huge number of videos that show these remarkable visualizations. They are not only beautiful but also are instructive. If you look at an orchestral piece, for example, you will see a line representing each instrument in the orchestra. Malinowski has also released the software for producing these videos for free, so you can experiment with your own music (stephenmalinowski.com).

These tools should give you a lot of fun composing music on your computer. Don’t forget to use your headphones!

Blessings!

Andy Harris is a homeschool dad, father of four great kids, and husband to the greatest homeschool teacher ever. He has taught all ages of students, from kindergarten to university level. Andy is the author of a number of well-known books, including HTML/XHTML/CSS: All in One for Dummies, Game Programming—The L Line, PHP6/MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner, and Beginning

Flash Game Programming for Dummies. For more information about his books, to

see where he is speaking next, or to just say hi, please stop by his website:

www.aharrisbooks.net

Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the family education magazine. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.

Google Earth in the Homeschool Part 2 ~ Guest Post

Google Earth in the Homeschool

Part II

by Andy Harris

Last month I introduced Google Earth—a truly fascinating tool for exploring the planet. This month we go deeper to learn all kinds of fascinating new uses for this incredible free tool. If you need a refresher, look into last month’s article. Fire up your own copy of Google Earth—you’ll want to play along!

The Layered Look

One of the most powerful features of Google Earth is the Layers feature, which allows you to display various other features on top of the existing map data. There are a number of fascinating possibilities. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Borders and Labels: Select this layer to see state and national boundaries and city names. This can really help you figure out exactly where you are.

• Roads: Prominent roads are featured on the map, along with labels.

• 3D Buildings: This is one of the coolest features in Google Earth, but it does require a higher-powered computer to appreciate. Turn on this option and when you get close to the ground, you’ll be able to see three-dimensional buildings.

Thousands of famous (and not-so-famous) buildings are already included, and you can even add your own house! (See the section below on Google SketchUp for details.) You can turn on full textures for the maximum realism or go for a flat single color for better performance.

• Ocean: Traditional atlases treat oceans as empty space, but Google Earth gives you many options for exploring the oceans. Turn on the Shipwrecks button to see the locations and stories behind many shipwrecks. Ocean Expeditions takes you on a tour of several interesting expeditions. For example, one expedition that starts in Guam takes you on a tour of undersea volcanoes, some with videos! Animal tracking lets you select an animal such as a shark or a whale and see in first-person view where that animal has been swimming!

• Weather: The Weather tab is equally fascinating. Turn on Clouds to see major cloud formations in close to real time. You can also view radar data and view current temperature and conditions anywhere in the world.

• Gallery: This menu features some exceptional content. Especially noteworthy is the Ancient Rome 3D Gallery, which allows you to see what Rome looked like. National Geographic has provided several interesting options, but our favorite is the live WildCams. This feature allows you to view live webcams of animal habitats all over the world. Once we watched elephants come to a watering hole in Botswana while we ate our breakfast. NASA has some very nice imagery, and Wikiloc shows interesting trails. Note that some content comes from the outside Internet, so as always, you should monitor your kids as they use this content.

• More: If you’re not overwhelmed yet, there are even more layers available in the (cleverly named) More section. Among the most interesting options here are Places/Categories, which allows you to place a marker on coffee shops and ATMs, and the Transportation section, which allows you to mark airports and rail lines.

Changing Space and Time

A program as comprehensive as Google Earth isn’t limited by silly things like space and time. There are many ways to modify when and where you’re looking. For example, you can choose Historical Imagery from the View menu to get a slider to pick a time span. For some parts of the earth, you’ll see aerial photos for the last fifteen years or so. In a few places (like Rome) you can go back thousands of years.

You can also use the View Sun menu command to see the current day/night boundaries. This also pops up a slider so you can change the time.

Space is a big part of Google Earth too. If you zoom way out, you can see the stars. You can also turn off atmosphere from the View menu to see the stars from any particular part of the globe. (Note that star positions change constantly, so they may not be exactly accurate.) For more celestial adventures, go to the Explore menu under the View menu. You can explore the sky, the moon, and Mars! Sky View gives you a view of the constellations. You can zoom in on a particular area of space for much more detail. The images are absolutely astounding.

Sky has its own set of layers, which allows you to turn on constellations within the solar system. The Welcome to Sky tour is worth doing if you have any interest in astronomy.

You can also visit Mars. As you’d expect, there’s quite a bit of detail in the Layers menu. You can see place names, satellite images, and paths of the rovers and satellites that are currently exploring Mars. The moon is just as interesting, as it features photos, images, and models of various explorations. You can zoom in to the Apollo 11 landing site and see a model of the lunar lander.

I Believe I Can Fly

One of my favorite features of Google Earth is a built-in flight simulator! Navigate to any location on the planet and choose Enter Flight Simulator from the Tools menu. You’ll be given a choice between two aircraft: a jet fighter and a more manageable prop plane.  If you’re a beginner, you’ll have better luck with the slower plane.

Before you get started, click on the Help button that comes with the flight simulator pop-up window. This describes the keyboard commands you’ll use to control the plane. When the flight simulation begins, you’ll see a heads-up display that indicates the aircraft’s speed and direction. You can use a joystick or keyboard to fly the plane, but I think the mouse control is probably the easiest. Click the mouse button while the flight simulator is running; the mouse cursor will change to a cross, and your mouse will act like a flight yoke. Push forward to push the aircraft’s nose down, pull back to raise the nose, and use side-to-side motion to roll the plane and control its direction.

The aircraft is easiest to manage when you’ve turned on Roads (especially if you’re flying in a place you know) and Airports (from the Layers/More/Transportation) layer. It can be challenging to land the aircraft, but it is possible. You can even fly on Mars and the moon. (I know; there’s no atmosphere on the moon, but still, it’s pretty cool.) The flight simulator adds an entirely new dimension to Google Earth as you try to buzz the St. Louis arch and fly through the Grand Canyon.

Building Your Own 3D Models

You can take Google Earth even further. Google has released a free 3D modeling tool called Google SketchUp. While 3D modeling is never easy, this tool makes it relatively painless. You can download a copy of SketchUp here: sketchup.google.com/download.

You can build a model of your house, models of prominent buildings in your area, or whatever else you want. You can then submit your model to be included in Google Earth. Part of the reason Google Earth has models of buildings all over the world is because they have been contributed by the community. SketchUp is a great tool for talking about 3D geometry, modeling, and architecture.

The Google Building Maker is an online tool that’s a little easier to use than SketchUp. It makes it easy to make buildings, but they are available for only a limited area. You can find this tool at sketchup.google.com/3dwh/buildingmaker.html.

Google Earth Plug-in Fun

One of the other amazing aspects of Google Earth is how it has been extended. The folks at Google created a version of Google Earth called the GEPlug-in, which exposes the Google Earth engine to web browsers. Clever developers have added all sorts of interesting games and add-ons based on this technology:

• G. E. Flight Simulator (www.ge-flightsimulator.com)—This is as close to a real flight simulator as you’ll see in a web browser. It adds a few features not in the standard G. E. simulator, including a moving map, multiple aircraft, and multiplayer with chat.

• Ships (planetinaction.com/ships15)—If airplanes are too high-speed for you, maybe a boating simulation is a better match. Pilot river barges, a cruise ship, a catamaran, or even a Zeppelin.

• Helicopters (planetinaction.com/helicopters)—This comes closer to a full-fledged game, where you control a helicopter and take part in various missions.

• Monster Milktruck (earth-api-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/demos/milktruck/index.html)—This simple application allows you to drive a milk truck with monster wheels anywhere in the world. Pretty fun, huh?

• Stadiums Sample (earth-api-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/demos/stadiums/stadiums.html)—Take a tour of well-known sports facilities.

For any of these examples to work, you’ll need to download and install the Google Earth Plug-in, available at www.google.com/earth/explore/products/Plug-in.html.

So how does this fit my school? Clearly Google Earth is an impressive program, but it’s not designed as a curriculum. It certainly won’t replace traditional media for geography, science, or history, but it can provide added benefits in all these areas. Google Earth is especially suited to help technically minded students interact with various subjects. Here are just a few project ideas to get you started:

Science

• Look over weather patterns and make your own predictions based on cloud and radar images to the west of your town.

• Investigate a wilderness web cam for several days and log the animals you see.

• Look into the volcano, earthquake, and tsunami layers for information about these geologic events.

Geography

• Use Google Earth to more closely investigate areas you study, read about, or visit on mission trips. Look for photos, panoramic images, and videos of your favorite places.

• Build a tour of a country or region you’re studying. Use the Audio tool to describe each area as you zoom into it.

• Investigate mountain ranges, islands, and ocean trenches.

History

• Use Google Earth to discover shipwrecks. Do more Internet and library research to discover the story behind the wrecks.

• See how far back image data goes for your town. Create a poster or paper describing how your area has changed. (You can print out the results of G. E. searches.)

• Create a tour that describes a historical trek: the Israelites in the desert, Sherman’s march to the sea, or Napoleon’s misadventure in Russia.

Art/Architecture

• Model your house or some other building, and submit it to Google Earth.

• Locate famous sculptures and statues throughout the world.

• Use SketchUp to build a 3D model of anything you can imagine.

Let me know if you come up with anything else. If you have trouble finding any of the links in this document, please visit my website: www.aharrisbooks.net.

There is so much fun to be had with this app. Don’t tell your kids they’re learning stuff.

Andy Harris is a homeschool dad, father of four great kids, and husband to the greatest homeschool teacher ever. He has taught all ages of students, from kindergarten to university level. Andy is the author of a number of well-known books, including HTML/XHTML/CSS: All in One for Dummies, Game Programming—The L Line, PHP6/ MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner, and Beginning Flash Game Programming for Dummies. For more information about his books, to see where he is speaking next, or to just say hi, please stop by his website: www .aharrisbooks.net.

Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the March 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade magazine for homeschool families. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.

Google Earth in the Homeschool Part 1 ~ Guest Post

Google Earth in the Homeschool

Part I

By Andy Harris

Homeschool families are constantly looking for great tools to help make learning come alive. Every once in a while, a tool with remarkable potential comes along. Google Earth is a very interesting atlas, but it is capable of much more than basic geography. Learn how you can use this powerful free tool to explore shipwrecks, follow weather patterns in real time, watch wild animals in Africa, explore ancient Rome, and fly over your neighborhood in a jet aircraft.

Google Earth is a free application available at earth.google.com. The application is available for all major operating systems and is absolutely free. (There is a professional version you can purchase, but everything I describe in this article refers to the free version.) As of this writing, Google Earth 6.0 is the most recent version; please get that version to enjoy all the examples.

You do not need an exceptionally powerful computer to run Google Earth, but some features (3D buildings and the flight simulator, for example) take advantage of powerful newer machines when they are available. You will need an active Internet connection, as the image data is pulled from the Internet as needed.

As I describe Google Earth throughout this article, you should really get in front of your computer and play along. It’s great to explore these features with your family, as you will all be amazed at what you can do together.

Basic Navigation

Basic usage of Google Earth is relatively simple. It’s just a virtual globe. When you start the program, you’ll see the earth in a large central panel. Drag the mouse to spin the globe. If you have a wheel on your mouse, you can use it to zoom closer or farther away. You can zoom all the way down to your street and look at your house! (More on street view in a moment.) While navigating in the main window, you can press the middle mouse button to change your rotation.

The main screen has three primary controls on it. Use the top control (with the eyeball) to rotate your view. You can also drag the “N” to change the overall orientation if you get confused. The middle controller (with a hand on it) controls the rotation as well. Personally, I do not use this control scheme, as it’s more natural to simply grab and rotate the globe itself, which works in the same way. The bottom controller, which looks like a scroll bar, allows you to adjust the zoom. When you’re zoomed in closely, you’ll sometimes also see a little human figure icon, which you can use to enable ground level or street view for the current location.

You may see various icons on the map. You can usually double-click an icon to get more information about whatever you’re looking at. Often in a very detailed area (like a city) you’ll see various objects or buildings highlighted in blue when your mouse is hovering over them. If this happens, you can click on the item to get a popup window explaining what the item is, with links to web pages that can provide additional information.

Just looking around the globe this way is amazing. You can locate islands, towns, and even individual buildings. Depending on the settings, you can have Google Earth display all kinds of features, but first, let’s explore the ground view.

Ground Level and Street View

Note that if you zoom in very closely, you go to a ground-level view, which shows the view as if you’re standing at that spot. Ground-level view shows the general landscape. There’s often a button on the screen that allows you to switch between ground-level view and something called “street view.”

Street view shows actual panoramic photos of your current area. (I can tell it’s really my house, because the street view shows our van door wide open.) Street view is not available in all parts of the world, by the way. You can drag the mouse to change your viewpoint and double-click anywhere on the screen within street view to move the viewpoint to a new spot. If you’re pointing down a street, you can use the mouse wheel to “drive” down the street. Use the “exit ground-level view” or “exit street view” button (the button text changes depending on the current mode) to return to the normal globe mode.

There are many fun ways to use street view. It might be fun to view your current house with your children but also to explore other places that are important to your family. During childhood, I moved many times, and I never got to show my kids where I grew up, but with Google Earth, I can show them the houses I lived in—even when I lived overseas! You can also use this mode to preview areas you’re planning to visit or to see famous places you read about or hear about in the news.

Street view is most useful in urban areas, as the coverage is more complete. Ground-level view is more interesting when you’re looking at interesting geography, such as the Grand Canyon or a volcano.

Exploring the Sidebar

Depending on your settings, you may have a sidebar to the left of your primary screen. If it is not visible, click on the left-most icon or choose Sidebar from the View menu. The sidebar opens a whole new world of opportunities.

The most immediately useful tool is the search box. Using the Fly To tab, you can go from wherever you are to any place in the world. Type in “Tokyo, Japan” or “Grand Canyon” to enjoy some examples. You can use the other tabs to find a business (in a flagrant nod to advertisers, I suspect) or use the Directions tab to get a set of directions from anywhere in the world to anywhere else. Although you’ve probably seen this before, the Google Earth version has a fun bonus feature: you can click on each of the instructions and fly from one point to the next, seeing exactly what each turn looks like.

Managing Places

You can mark places that are of interest to you and view them again later. To mark a place, move the view so you are looking at the place of interest (say, your house). Use the Placemark button on the Add menu to add a new pin to your map. You can add a name to your placemark and also change how it appears. Your new place will now appear in the Places section under My Places. You can then double-click on your place name from anywhere in the world to get to your place immediately.

You’ll also see some great places to view in the Sightseeing tour available under Places. Expand the Sightseeing Tour menu and double-click on Start Tour Here. You’ll be transported to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Wait a few moments for all the scenery to pop into view. Things may look fuzzy at first, but be patient, and you’ll see the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. (You’ll need 3D buildings turned on for the full effect. It should be on by default, but if not, be sure to read the Layers section in Part 2 of this article for tips on how to turn it on.) Feel free to move around and look around the city. There’s plenty to see.

A new control panel will appear on the screen. Hit the Play button, and you’ll fly to the next point of interest (which is the famous “Christ Redeemer” statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Go through the tour and you’ll see several of the most interesting places in the virtual (and real) world, including the Grand Canyon, Mount Fuji, and even the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean!

If you like, you can record your own tour. Simply use the Tour item from the Add menu. This pops up a little recording box. Hit the record button, and the application will record your motions. Press the microphone button to record your voice explaining your tour. When you’re done with a recording, you can play it back and use the Save icon to save the recording. Your tour will now be listed under My Places. This can be a great way to record things such as historical paths, family moves, and other multi-site activities.

And Much More Next Month 

It’s hard to believe that Google Earth can do more than this, but we’re literally scratching the surface here. Come back next month and I’ll show how to do much more with this great tool. Here are some things to look forward to:

• Working with layers to see oceans, weather, and fascinating third-party content

• Going back in time to see how cities have changed

• Going to the moon, Mars, and the stars

• Flying a jet plane around the terrain

• Constructing your own 3D building models

• Exploring the Google Earth plugin for more fun

Check out the accompanying videos for a few examples of the fun you can have!

Andy Harris is a homeschool dad, father of four great kids, and husband to the greatest homeschool teacher ever. He has taught all ages of students, from kindergarten to university level. Andy is the author of a number of well-known books, including HTML/XHTML/CSS:  All in One for Dummies, Game Programming--The L Line, PHP6/MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner, and Beginning Flash Game Programming for Dummies. For more information about his books, to see where he is speaking next, or to just say hi, please stop by his web site:  www.aharrisbooks.net. 

Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the January 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade magazine for homeschool families. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free TOS apps to read the magazine on your Kindle Fire or Apple or Android devices.

The App Revolution ~ Guest Post

by

Sharra Badgley

This is an exciting time to homeschool! Advancements in technologies offer a plethora of learning resources right at our fingertips to enhance our homeschooling efforts. Like never before, mobile technologies such as smartphones, tablets, and apps have expanded the accessibility of high-quality resources from preschool to college.

Each month in the Apps in Home Education column, I will highlight some of the most useful apps for home educators and provide practical tips for enhancing your homeschool studies by embracing mobile learning apps. Whether you are a confident digital native or a hesitant newcomer to new technologies, you can be sure to find timely information within this new monthly column on how to make use of apps in your homeschool.

Over the past couple of years, the development of learning apps has exploded, bringing about a revolution in education. After the initial investment in your tablet or mobile device, you will literally have thousands upon thousands of educational apps available, with many of them offered free or at low cost.

The use of learning apps provides several key benefits:

• Fosters language development
• Increases literacy
• Stimulates learning
• Proven success for exceptional learners
• Provides low-cost tutoring and remediation
• Engages advanced students with appropriate challenges
• Makes learning fun!

This month I will highlight three free apps and one paid app that are, in my opinion, a must-have for every homeschool. I will focus on Apple apps for the iPhone and iPad; I will highlight Android apps in future months.

#1 Free App—Google Earth (itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-earth/id293622097?mt=8)
The Google Earth app allows you to travel around the world from the comfort of your own iPhone or iPad. You may have already downloaded this program on your computer, but the app is a whole new experience. The intuitive nature of Apple devices allows you to zoom in and navigate the world with ease. This app is perfect for studying current events, geography, history, and science.

#2 Free App—Evernote (itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8)
Evernote is a wonderful productivity app that is beneficial for both homeschool parents and students. Evernote can be used to store all of your notes, web clips, and audiovisuals for any topic or need you can imagine. You can consider Evernote to be an extension of your busy brain! The best feature of this app is that it will automatically sync with your PC or Mac computer and your iPhone, iPad, and/or iPod so that you can access your notes on any device.

#3 Free App—BrainPOP (itunes.apple.com/us/app/brainpop-featured-movie/id364894352?mt=8)
BrainPOP, an educational app for the iPhone and iPad, offers informative multimedia videos and quizzes on various cross-curricular topics. It is available as a monthly paid subscription, but the free version offers one movie and quiz each day—absolutely free.

#1 Paid App—MathBoard (itunes.apple.com/us/app/mathboard/id373909837?mt=8)
MathBoard, for the iPhone and iPad, can be customized to drill various addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems in a fun and engaging way. If you want a groan-free math experience, just have your elementary students take this app on a test drive and you will find them begging to do math drills first thing each day. This app is seriously that fun!

Here is what our youngest daughter (whose least favorite subject has been math) had to say after using the MathBoard app for one month to supplement her homeschool studies in math: “MathBoard has features such as multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division. MathBoard allows you to put in your score as a report to your parents. You can also make MathBoard a game by challenging yourself by countdown or elapsed time, but if you want to take your time, you can turn the clock off before your lesson. Your parents can choose how many questions you need. You can have your parents choose your digit number or make it unlimited digits for fun. That is what I like about using the MathBoard app.”—Briyah, age 9

After thirteen years of homeschooling, our family has never been more excited about the educational possibilities on the horizon, through new technologies and specifically mobile apps. Apple devices such as the iPad and iPod Touch, along with tablets powered by Android, can serve as mobile classrooms for busy homeschool families— including parents. I am in my senior year of earning a B.S. Education degree at Liberty University, and I am able to take my college classes with me by using a Blackboard app.

Additionally, our family carries our iPad with us wherever we go, and our daughter, who is a twice exceptional learner (Gifted and ADHD), enjoys the wide range of educational activities it offers. Her favorite feature is the ability to choose from dozens of classical literature books that we have downloaded for free using various book apps. She can also practice on the piano, compose stories, play word games, work on math drills, watch educational videos, explore history eras, learn U.S. and world geography, and create artistic designs and videos by using Whiteboard apps.

Have you incorporated these revolutionary technologies in your homeschool yet?

Sharra Badgley lives in central Indiana along with her husband Christopher Michael and their two daughters, Shaiya and Briyah.  Sharra writes about her family’s homeschooling journey, does product reviews, and shares information about using apps in home education at The Homeschool Marm (www.thehomeschoolmarm.com) and on her blog at www.thehomeschoolmarm.blogspot.com.

Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the January 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade magazine for homeschool families. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com  or read it on the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.